Friend in ‘shock’ over B.C. attack

A longtime friend of a former Annapolis Valley resident shot in Vancouver this week said he was shocked when Paul Dragan’s sister called with the news.

“Disbelief, shock. The same thing I’m going through now,” Kings County resident Peter Mosher said Thursday. “I wonder what he went through, what it’s like to be hit by a bullet.”

Dragan, who grew up in the Middleton area, was shot in broad daylight Tuesday outside the coffee shop across the street from his bike store. He was rushed to hospital and after surgery was listed in stable but critical condition.

“I know exactly where it happened; I’ve been in that coffee shop,” Mosher said.

He said seeing photographs in the media that bystanders took while Good Samaritans and then paramedics tended to his friend “were just horrific. He looked dead.”

While Dragan’s face and torso were mostly hidden in the images, Mosher said he could tell he was looking at his friend.

“I know Paul, I’ve spent time with him over the past couple of months. I know what his hands look like and what he looks like … his hands had no life in them, draped down, in blood.”

Mosher said he has been in contact with Dragan’s sister and as of Wednesday night, Dragan was still unconscious but had moved all four limbs and opened his eyes a couple of times.

After the shooting, two police officers who were nearby chased a suspect on foot and by bike until he reached a science centre, where other officers exchanged gunfire with the man and wounded him.

Gerald Battersby, 61, has been charged with six counts of attempted murder and four weapons-related offences. He is a former employee of Dragan’s.

Mosher has visited Dragan in Vancouver in the past but said he doesn’t know Battersby. He said Dragan didn’t say anything to him about having trouble with an employee when they talked about 10 days ago.

He said Dragan, a former pro racer on the bike tour in Europe, was always a go-getter. He started with one bike store after returning to Canada and expanded to five before scaling back to two. He is looking to get out of the business and retire in the next five years or so, Mosher said.

“He’s been very successful.”

Mosher, Dragan and four other men travelled through India by motorcycle earlier this year.

Vancouver police say Battersby was hit by several bullets in the shootout with police, including in the arm, leg and knee. He is in hospital in serious condition and under police guard.

A female officer suffered significant injuries to her head from flying glass when her police car was struck by gunfire.